Albany, August 6th, 1819. |you declared you had unlimited confidence, and to SIR-I have received your letter of the 3d inst. in whom you referred me in support of your doubts which you feel yourself constrained to admit "that upon the construction of the act, and all of them I may consider it extraordinary that you should set you are constrained to admit are gentlemen of 'isup your judgment in opposition to that of the very tinguished character and probity, you cannot but able and respectable counsel whose written opinion suppose that it is inexplicable to me on what you I handed to you, and that the weight of their cha-have grounded your conduct in this affair. racter made you seriously distrust your own judg- I was frequently informed at New York, and afment." To this you could with propriety have ad- ter my arrival here, that the declarations of your ded, that I might deem it more surprising, that you political and confidential friends were, that a setshould have come to the extraordinary decision now tlement at the present time would, at all events, be communicated to me, after your previous assurance, evaded by you, and at our second interview I frankthat if certain of the judges of the supreme court, ly communicated to you the information I had rewhose opinion I consented you might take on the ceived on that subject: you repeatedly assured me, question if you thought it proper, should think with my apprehensions, that they must have had some the counsel I had consulted, or should decline giv-authority from you for such confident predictions, ing an opinion, you would in either case forthwith were wholly groundless-how far those assurances decide and settle the account with pleasure. When are reconcileable with your subsequent conduct, let it was ascertained that the judges alluded to declin- the facts decide. ed all voluntary interference in the matter, I did! hope and believe, that you sincerely intended to close the accounts, and that belief was confirmed by the circumstance of your requiring the contracts and evidences of loans over night, that you might examine them, and, as I very naturally concluded, make the requisite calculations. After this, instead of meeting you in the morning, disposed to conelude the buisness, to receive your letter of the afternoon, with my papers rejected and returned, was, I confess, unexpected.

Your suggestions, that I may apply to the supreme court for a mandamus, at the time, and under the circumstances it is made, is not less extraordinary than the rest of your conduct in this affair. 1 venerate, I trust, as much as any man, the judicial institutions of the state, and have labored with sincerity and zeal to preserve their just authority, and to perpetuate their usefulness; and however much it is to be regretted by every sincere friend to the honor and interest of the state, that they should in any degree have become entangled in the conflicts It is difficult to conceive a justifiable motive for of party, it is notwithstanding an object of the first requesting the possession of those papers, with the importance that they should be preserved from the declared intention of examining them, if you had danger to which it is feared they are exposed. But not concluded to abandon your singular and extra- this is not the occasion for a discussion of that subordinary construction of the act, an act which a just|ject: and my only motive for the remarks I have and enlightened legislature had passed for my re-made is, to prevent the circumstance I shall prolief, but which, by the arbitrary exercise of the au- ceed to state from being attributed to feelings I do thority your office confers on you, you seem dis- not possess. posed to bend to my oppression.

On Monday evening the business, so far as prinI feel conscious that I am neither suspicious nor ciple was concerned, appeared to be settled beuncharitable; but connecting your conduct in this tween us; I mentioned to you, in a free and familiar particular with other circumstances, I cannot resist conversation, my regret that you had not, in the the belief, (and I know of no reason why I should first instance, submitted the question to the proper omit the expression of it) that you had become alarm- law officer of the state, instead of applying privateed at the impression which your individual per-ly to certain of the judges who you knew to have tinacity upon the construction of the act was making political prejudices against me, for an obiter, unupon liberal and just minds, and fondly hoped to digested and exparte opinion on the subject. You find the papers defective in proof of the facts requir. ed by the act, that you might thereby be enabled to evade a settlement of the account on that ground, and that it was only when you found that expectation vain, that, in the last resort, you formed the resolution of resuming an objection which you had before apparently abandoned.

had before admitted that such application had been made, and then excused yourself therefor by a declaration of your solemn opinion and belief, that it was not possible the judges could ever be called upon to express an official opinion in the case: yet the next day, without assigning a single reason for it, without a single opinion of counsel, or even taking the opinion of the law officer of the govern ment, as to the propriety of the course suggested, you propose to drive me to the obtainment of the judicial opinion of a court, two of the judges of which, you often suggested, would not be proper arbiters between us, and who you professed a wish to exclude from giving an opinion on the subject.

When you consider that, in this case, you have wholly departed from the ordinary course of your official duties that instead of calling upon the law officer of the government for his opinion, as was proper for you to do, and as you have invariably done on similar occasions, you avoided that plain and simple course during the time of the late attorney general; that you have not thought proper It is true that you have since qualified this sugto take the public and official opinion of the present gestion by saying to me, that you merely meant that attorney general; but that, not being a professional they were improper persons to decide out of court, man yourself, you have declined the legal aid and extra judicially, and that you had wished to exwhich the government has provided for you, and clude them only in that case; but that the circumset up your individuals doubts on the question of stances which would constitute an objection to their construction in opposition to the clear and decided being exparte advisers out of court, would form no opinion of nine of the most able and respectable objection to their competency or uprightness in counsellors in the country, three of whom have deciding the same question judicially. I then statbeen attorney generals of the state, five of them dis-ed to you, and now repeat, that I could not feel or tinguished judges of important state courts, one of admit the justice of the distinction. them, your predecessor in the office of comptroller, The course of litigation and further expense proand another of them the very gentleman in whom posed by you to compel you to do what the law im.

poses as a duty, is one that I shall not resort to, as I alone for the consideration of the honorable the lewell because a mandamus would not probably lie in gislature. But the comptroller having thus unexsuch a case, as because I have avoided as much as pectedly been drawn before the public, will be com possible, through the whole course of my life, con-pelled in self-defence to make a full exposition of troversies and disputes in law.

I shall therefore prefer to submit to this, as I have to much other injustice received at your hands in the course of my business with the state, with the patience and resignation that becomes an injured but peaceful citizen.

lam, sir, your obedient servant,

DANIEL D. TOMPKINS. Archibald M'Intyre, esq. compt'r. &c.

the vice president's claims; of the nature of the the question in difference, and of the reasons which actuated the comptroller in the course he has taken.

The comptroller feels a consciousness that he has been guided through the whole of this business by a strong sense of duty, and that his construction of the act of the last session is conformable to the intentions of the legislature. The documents in his possession, independent of the act itself, clearly shew this intention, and he cannot therefore dread the result of an appeal to a just and enlightened public; and in the mean time he begs a suspension of the public opinion.

Albany, August 11, 1819.

ARCH'D M'INTYRE.

Naval Resources

The following is copied from a late number of the London Quarterly Review.

The Liverpool Courier, in extracting the article,

An act for the final settlement of the accounts of the late governo: of this state. Passed April 13, 1819. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York, represented in senate and assembly, That the comptroller of this state be, and he is hereby authorised and required to adjust and finally liquidate and settle the residue of the accounts of Daniel D. Tompkins, late governor of this state, and to credit and allow to him therein the same discount or premium on the current monies borrowed and obtained by the said Daniel D. Tompkins on his personal responsibility, and by him expended and dis-recommends it "as a subject of transcendent imporbursed in the public service during the late war, as were made and allowed to other individuals and to bodies corporate, and by them received for current monies loaned to the government of the U.States on the certificates of stock or funded debt of the said government, the said comptroller having reference in such settlement to the respective periods at We are really glad that the British have stumbled which the said current monies were so borrowed upon something to relieve them of the ridiculous and obtained; and that the said comptroller debit fears which they have exhibited on account of the the government of the U. States with the sum so al-building of a few ships in the United States; and lowed to the said Daniel D. Tompkins in the account of this state with the general government, for dis bursements during the late war; and that the treasurer pay, on the warrant of the comptroller, the balance, if any there should be found due, to the late governor, upon the final settlement of the said

accounts.

tance, and admirably calculated to allay the extra. vagant fears which many well- eaning, but inconsiderate, Englishmen entertain with respect to the probable maritime supremacy of the United States, and the consequent declension of the naval superiority which Great Britain at present enjoys.”

we think that their lords and commons, ministers of state and newspaper printers, should bless the author of the essay, saying "BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT BRINGETH CONSOLATION."

Comparison between the British and American navy. "The successful manner in which America fitted out a few ships of war during the late contest, may II. And be it further enacted, That the comptrol-have induced some persons to give credit to her exler be and he is hereby authorised and required to travagant boasts, and to suppose that she will at no credit and allow to the said Daniel D. Tompkins, in remote period become a great naval power, and the account, all such sums as may satisfactorily ap- perhaps dispute with us our superiority on the pear to him to have been advanced, expended and ocean. This topic merits some attention. The paid by the said Daniel D. Tompkins, for and on formation of a navy must depend on the quantity account of any public services, and which were au- of commercial shipping, in which sailors can be prethorised by law, and to open accounts with the va-viously trained in the knowledge and practice of rious individuals to whom any advances were made by the said Daniel D. Tompkins, and allowed by the said comptroller in the settlement aforesaid, and to call such individuals to an account for such advances.

TO THE PUBLIC.

their profession. America at present has an abun dant supply of sailors, but the abundance is unnatural and principally owing to causes which have now ceased to exist, and they have become burthen some rather than beneficial to the community. The extensive war, which for more than twenty years raged in Europe, and in which all the naval powers The vice president having thought proper to pub-were in turn involved, raised the mercantile navy lish a part of a correspondence in relation to the of America to such a heighth which it would never settlement of his accounts, the comptroller deems have otherwise attained, and which it will never it due to himself, without however imputing any in- reach again. At a very early period of that war, the tention on the part of the vice president to misre-colonies of the enemies of England could neither present, to declare most explicitly, that some of the transmit their productions to the mother country, allegations in his letter are incorrect and calculated nor receive the necessary supplies but through neit to make a very false impression as to the comptrol-trals--and America in that character enjoyed aller's conduct and motives.

The comptroller was not a little astonished at the extraordinary contents and character of the vice president's letter, and was not less so at its publication. He did not suppose it possible that the vice president would have given publicity to a correspondence, which, for any beneficial or practical purpose, it was believed, could have been intended

most the whole carrying trade of continental Europe. The fisheries where in their hands—and in our islands they were allowed to trade to a greates extent than perhaps was politic even at that period. All this gave a wonderful impulse to the American shipping, and increased its tonnage from 700,966) tons, the amount in 1792, to 1,350,000, the amcent when the war with England commenced.

The alteration of circumstances has already di- the maritime power of America, financial reason minished, and will yet more diminish the mercan-will also be found equally to obstruct a great or raf tile navy of America. The rate of pay in American pid progress. The annual average expense o ships in time of peace must be regulated, not by the maintaining the naval force of Great Britain, during wages of labor within the states, but by the wages a war, may be taken at eight or ten millions sterling. which other nations pay to their sailors; if it were To create such a source, to accumulate adequate otherwise, the freight of goods by American ships stores of all kinds sufficient to keep it up to its would be much higher than by those of other coun- high standard, to construct arsenals, docks and tries. In a period of peace the Americans have no machinery, and fortifications for its defence, must advantages in the carrying trade, since they can far exceed any sum which any government in the neither build, victual, nor navigate ships cheaper United States would venture to submit to the conthan the nations of Europe. sideration of congress. Our navy is already created, "Our northern philosophers have recently dis-and national feelings, as well as the conviction of covered, among other rapid advances which the U. its boundless services to ourselves and the whole States have made, that their foreign commerce has civilized world, during twenty years of tremendous increased, and that already their mercantile navy and fearful conflict, will support the British nation is within afew thousand tons of our own; and have in the necessary expense of maintaining its superigrounded upon this notable discovery the prophe-ority; but the distance between creating and upcy,' that in two or three years they must overtake holding such an implement of attack and defence, and outstrip us. We have stated the tonnage of is immense. the merchant ships of America at 1,850,000; but Mr. "But further, if the maritime population and the Pitkin, an acute statistical writer and a member of finances of America should improve so as to enable congress, observes that of this amount only 1,550,- them to form a navy, local circumstances of a very 000 were actually navigated, which employed about important nature would prevent it. The shores of 62,000 men.† This was the highest point to which the United States are nearly equal to the whole exthe mercantile navy ever rose. Since the return of tent of coast which Great Britain presents to the Europe to a state of peace, it has rapidly declined. sea. On the most extended part of that line, viz. The foreign tonnage has been reduced half, and from the capes of Virginia to the southernmost the domestic tonnage has been reduced half, and boundary, there is no port in which a ship of the diminished.t line, or even one of the large class of frigates, can "Whilst the mercantile navy of America has be received; in fact, the whole southern coast is been thus dwindling down to that natural state destitute of harbors, for the riverson which Charles. which its limited capital and small surplus of pro-ton and Savannah are built, have bars which, exductions will support, that of Great Britain has ad- cept at spring tides, preclude the entrance of even vanced with unexampled rapidity. In the year the smallest frigates. The great rivers Chesapeake 1811, it amounted to 2,474,774 tons, and employed and Delaware, though capable of admitting large 162,547 men and boys to navigate it; within the ships, afford no security against a superior naval seven years which have since elapsed, a great ac-force. New York, Newport in R. Island, and Boston, cession has taken place, and the tonnage now though tolerable harbors, may be easily blockaded, amounts to 2,783,940, navigated by 173,820 men.-and the ships that rendezvous there be rendered Whilst America, in the most flourishing state of her commerce, could only draw supplies for a fighting navy from 62,000 men, we have 173,000 from which to obtain the requisite recruits, without taken into our calculation the numerous maritime inhabitants who are employed in the smaller craft, which are unregistered; in the fishing boats which surround every part of our coast; and in the boats, barges and lighters which conduct the commercial lading from the sea to the interior.

"As the deficiency of seamen, and of the power to obtain the service of such as they have for the navy, is an obstacle to any formidable increase of

*Edinburg Review, No. 49, page 137.

[We cannot see that such a statement is made by Mr. Pitkin, and suspect an error here. We do not see, by reference to our tables, that the whole tonnage of the United States ever amounted to 1,550, 000 tons. ED. REG.]

"It appears from the declaration of Mr. King, member for Massachusetts, that in January 1817, more than half the shipping, which had prosecuted foreign commerce, was dismantled at the wharfs and literally compelled to seek employ in foreign countries. Their ship carpenters, destitute of employ, are obliged, for a living, to go into the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, there to cut timber, for the royal navy of England, and to build vessels to carry it to Great Britain. This is more than sufficient to encourage us to hope that in the next edition of the journal just mentioned, for within a few thousand tons of our own,' we shall be directed to read-within a few million.'

useless, whilst a small naval force might scour every harbor and river to the southward of them. A country so extended as America would find difficulties in forming a naval force, which are not experienced in Great Britain. In a case of great emergency the whole of our naval population might be concentrated at any one point, so as in six or eight days, if it were necessary, to man a larger fleet than was over yet equipped; but if America had an equal fleet in the only ports that will admit it, so long a period must elapse before her maritime population could be collected, even if the power of impressment were exercised, that the whole might be very leisurely destroyed before the hands could be brought together to man them."

Crew of the Irresistible.

RICHMOND, AUGUST 3 On Friday last the special term of the federal court was closed-On that day the following pro ceedings took place.-Present chief justice Marshall and judge Tucker.

Thomas Smith, late of Norfolk, in Va. who stands indicted of piracy, was this day again led to the bar in custody of the marshal, and upon consideration of the special verdict found by the jury in his case on Wednes lay last, and of the arguments of counsel, the following question occurred as material in the cause:-"Does the offence charged in this indictment and found by the jury to have been committed by the prisoner amount to the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, so as to be pu nishable under the act of congress entitled "an ast

to protect the commerce of the United States, and punish the crime of piracy?"

On this question the judges were divided in opi- Boroughs. A case was lately tried at Exeter asnion, and do therefore direct it to be adjourned to sises in which sir Manasseh Lopez, bart. was found the supreme court of the United States for decision guilty of buying the independent voters of the -And it is adjourned accordingly. borough of Grampound. It appears that a quarrel All the other prisoners (under the same indict-was the cause of the exposure-he put them off ment) were led to the bar, but the court not being with 351 per head, when they expected 50. advised of its judgment to be given on the matters Cotton. The capital vested in the cotton trade of law arising from the special verdict found against of Great Britain, is estimated at 11 millions pounds them, take time to consider thereof until the next sterling-the annual expenses at 27 millions--and term, and thereupon they are remanded to the cus-that the laborers employed amounted to about tody of the marshal. 120,000 persons.

All the untried cases (under the two other in- London, June 17. The Persian ambassador open, dictments) were postponed until the next court. ed his residence in Charles-street on Tuesday evenThomas Watson was discharged from further pro-ing, with a grand assembly. The interior was bril secution, and then recognized to appear here on the first day of the next term-And then the court adjourned.

Foreign Articles.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

liantly illuminated, particularly in those parts where the whole length portraits of the royal family of Persia appeared. The sovereign in his robes of office, occupies the principal situation in a leading drawing room, encircled by a canopy of rich Cash mere shawls. In the banquetting room was a similar picture of the heir apparent. The apartments displayed all the costly luxury of eastern splendor. The kind of throne was enriched with the most preThe steam ship Savannah, capt. Moses Rodgers, cious gems in diamonds and pearls. The fair Cirthe first that ever crossed the Atlantic, arrived ut Li-cassian retired to rest at 10 o'clock, before the arverpool in 25 days from Savannah-all well, to the great astonishment of the people of that place. She worked her engine 18 days.

Stocks, June 23-3 per cent. consols 68 7-8

68 1-8.

Some of gen. Devereaux's corps, on their way to South America, have arrived at Liverpool.

rival of the company. The ambassador received the guests with the most polished demeanor, and accommodated them with sherbet and liquors peculiar to the Persian court.

FRANCE.

A Paris paper, of June 9, says-Marshal Soult is expected to morrow, not at Paris, but at his country

Gen. Vandamme, comprised in the ordinance of 24th July, has arrived at Havre; as he was not provided with any authorization he was placed at the disposition of the local authorites who have given him the city for his prison.

The prince regent lately held a drawing room. One of the London papers has ten columns of close matter giving an account of the dresses of the la-house near St. Cloud. dies! The crowd was so great that it was 5 o'clock in the evening before all the people could get in! From what is hinted in the London papers, it seems as if the prince regent had delicately placed some spies on the conduct of his wandering wife. A certain British "right honorable lord," has The duke of Hamilton one of the greatest lords left a legacy of 50,0001 to one of his domestic ser- of Scotland, has been in Paris some days. It is said vants. The payment is disputed by his heir at law that in virtue of ancient rights and of ancient poson the ground that the legacy was given "for a high-sessions in France, he is taking measures to obtain ly immoral consideration," &c. 2 seat in the house of peers, but our constitutional The "foreign enlistment bill was powerfully op-provisions appear not very favourable to his pretenposed by the people and in parliament, but has Passed-190 to 129.

Cotton, after the 5th of January next, will be subject to an ad valorem duty of 6 per cent. Ame rican rice will be admitted at 15s a hundred. The duty on tobacco will be increased about 10d per lb. and that on bark will be raised to 2s per cwt.

sions.

The comte Lanjuinais has recently published a work at Paris, entitled "Constitutions of the French people, with an essay towards an historical and political treatise upon the charter." This work has a freedom of expression which we little expected to hear of as existing in France. He charges many There is alarming intelligence from Leeds-the of the crimes committed in the revolution directly tap of liberty has been raised by the people-eve-to the agency of the ex-nobles and foreigners. The ry thing seemed ripe for an extensive insurrection." following relates to an infamous incident, and is inBut it will amount to nothing. teresting: "Let us never forget (says he) that the scandalous exhibition of an actress, metamorphosed into the goddess of reason, carrying upon asses to A crowd of weavers and others, supposed to the convention, the symbols of public worship, afteramount to 35,000, recently assembled on the green wards enthroned upon the tabernacle of the great at Glasgow, to petition the regent for means to re- altar of Paris, and adorned with offerings of incense move to the N. A. colonies for those who wished-and flowers, by figurantes of the opera, was an in the 40th regiment and some troops of cavalry were held in readiness to act while the meeting was hold-expense." ing.

The furniture of ten families at Leeds, was sold in a week for arrears of taxes.

vention of three ex privilegies, and paid for at their

He speaks thus of the efforts of the monarchists The Galway Advertiser states, that a whale of in France to retain the French people in servitude: the spermaceti species, measuring 72 feet in length, "I myself saw, says he, in 1815, in the hands of one and 48 in girth, round the body, and supposed to of the commanders of the foreign armies, a number be worth 6001 has been taken in Connemere bay, of letters, or secret notes, addressed to him, by Ireland. some of the nobility, from Paris, to solicit the perMany bones, as a manure, are imported into Eng-manency of a foreign garrison of 150,000 men. land from the continent.-It is believed that among shewed them, shuddering at the baseness of their them are those of many persons killed at Waterloo! | authors.”

He

Another flock of goats from Cashmere is expected soon to arrive in France. The precious wool of these, forms the material from which the shawls are fabricated. The French are well qualified to excel in this elegant manufacture.

Exceedingly important!-A Paris paper says, the duchess of Berri, on whose situation France founds such hopes, advances happily in her pregnancy!

SPAIN.

There is a long letter from Madrid in the Constitutional, in which England is accused of acting upon a regular system for the purpose of crippling the resources of Spain. After alluding to the cession of the Floridas, the letter observes, "it is now understood that the Havana will soon cease to belong to us."

duce them to better order, declares that they shall for a specific time be incorporated with the regi ments of his army, under the same duty and discipline, until they become sufficiently obedient. The gentlemen of the long robe are loud and vehement in their remonstrances, and the echo of their com plaints ring through Germany.

RUSSIA.

The house of Zur Kabacker and Kleen has failed. The deficit is said to amount to 2,000,000 roubles. They appear to have had a million of the private property of the emperor. The chief of the house has killed himself.

WEST INDIES.

Several of the British West India colonies, through their legislatures, have passed resolutions The Spaniards are notoriously obtaining arms into resist, as illegal, certain proceedings of the "lords England, for their expedition against South-Ame- commissioners of his majesty's treasury, to regulate rica. the fees of the customs-and an act establishing a docket of fees, not only for the custom house, but for the other public offices."

An ambassador from Ferdinand has arrived at Dresden, to solicit the king of Saxony's niece for his august master; to which the parties have consented.

NETHERLANDS.

Several pirates are reported to be captured by the British and Dutch, and a French squadron is looking out for them. Some of them have been executed at Nassau. At which place McGregor has been indicted as one.

The king of the Netherlands has interdicted all the Popish processions except two, the one to take place on the Sunday after Corpus Christi day, and A certain person called John Louis Dupuis was the other to be left to the choice of the bishops. recently executed at Jamaica, for piracy and murHe has also interdicted all fantastical dresses, &c. der on the high seas. He was an officer on board on those occasions, as productive of scandal to reli-a vessel called a patriot privateer, and in his gion, and disorder to the public peace.

ITALY.

cruise boarded an English vessel, in which a man and his wife were passengers. The woman was Lucien Bonaparte applied to the pontifical govern- violated by the savages in the presence of her hus ment for leave to send his eldest son to his uncle band, after which both of them were taken on board Joseph, in the United States. The privilege was the privateer. The man was then beaten and abused denied, and Lucien referred to the five allied pow-in a dreadful manner-but finally the rascals beers!!! What terror is there in the name of Bonaparte.

Accounts from Rome state, that a violent shock of an earthquake was felt at Corneto on the 26th ult. which considerably damaged several edifices, but happily no lives were lost. The celebrated Cupolao il Castello, remarkable for its antiquity and its Gothic architecture, was thrown down, and the church of the Minor Friars, of which it formed a part, was so much damaged that divine service cannot be performed in it. The shock is stated to have been felt along the whole coast of the Mediterranean.

They write from Palermo, that on the first of May, there fell in the valley of Mazzara, a slight shower of rain, mixed with fine sand of the color of ashes.

coming merciful shot him and threw him overboard. After which, Dupuis seized upon the woman as his property, and had compulsory intercourse with her! In the confession of Dupuis we see a specimen of the manner in which the war in Venezuela is carried on. He was with the patriots when they captured La Guiria-and stated that "every woman was violated, every house plundered, and nearly every human being murdered."

The "patriot flag" is now so much abused by the greatest villains that ever blackened the human character, that it is time for decent men sailing under it to come to a pause, and resolve to abandon it-unless means are taken to prevent a recurrence of such terrible outrages.

Died recently, at Kingston, Jam. a negro man named "Hope," whose age was believed to be about one hundred and forty years. He was a stout lad at the time of the great earthquake in Jamaica in the year

1692.

CHRONICLE.

Maine. The majority in favor of separation,in 206 towns, is 9,639. A few towns not yet returned.

Capt. Gamble. The officers attached to our squa dron in the Mediterranean have subscribed 3000 dollars, to erect a monument over the remains of capt. Gamble, late of the Erie sloop of war, who died at Pisa in October last.

The capitol at Washington, is nearly ready for the reception of congress. The Gothic destruction of this noble edifice has afforded an opportunity to increase its beauty and convenience, and we trust that it will long stand as a proud monument of a mean act. The centre building is in progress, and the whole edifice, it is thought, may he finished in two years.